I was moved to laughter, tears, and reflection through this journey. As a fellow traveling student of West African music, I immediately felt a deep connection to the story, and loved the honest and vulnerable perspectives shared by the author. The journey brings us through layers of themes and lessons, and reminds me these footsteps have been walked before me, and I am truly grateful the author shared all this knowledge. Highly inspiring & engaging, very highly recommended.

As an elder person who has overcome Lyme Disease and double hip replacement I could relate to the crippling, chronic pain, one moment from suicide pain, that Dave has been able to overcome.

I love how he actually became an accepted member of the village community. I lived in New Hampshire for 10 years, but was always a “Flat Lander” because I wasn’t born there. Who would have guessed that he would become the conservator of ancient musical history of Malinke culture?

I feel so grateful to have found this book. It was so riveting that I had a hard time putting it down. I loved the rich language that helped me visualize the West African culture and traditions as well as his courageous journey through illness. Thank you for allowing me to join this journey

This was a powerful read. I struggled to put the book down and wanted more. More of the journey, more grief, more laughs, more teaching, more music, more art, more musical instruments and much more Africa. Thank you for providing all of us with the opportunity to accompany you on your 20 year search to find the cure you were looking for. Lastly, thank you for the powerful life lessons.

Oh the layers of story, emotion and life lessons this book has brought to my life are in-valuble. Excellent and captivating read, emotional journey through culture, relationships, pain and geography. Perfect for book group, read aloud, to yourself with a cup of tea or on the throne! Cant say enough good things about this gift from across the sea that Dave has brought back to the states to share and lived to tell the tale!! Thank you Dave

A beautiful read that flows well, is nearly impossible to put down, and which describes Africa so well that I felt like I was there watching from the shadows. It is raw and honest and emotional. I highly recommend it!

Riveting! Compelling! I could not put this book down. Dave’s personal journey of seeking physical, emotional, and spiritual health is necessarily interwoven with his experience in Africa and the truths he learns there. Vivid descriptions of West Africa’s sights and sounds brought memories of my own trip to Ghana rushing back. If you’ve never been to West Africa, this book can take you there. Dave is like a bridge connecting people, cultures, and worlds. He has humbly and extraordinarily immersed himself in the rhythmic and musical language of this region. His commitment to honoring his teachers and the ancestors helps keep this music alive and in the world. Thank you, Dave!!

“Inspiring & insightful. A tale of true magic and overcoming all odds - a deeply moving and richly told narrative with unique perspectives on spiritual healing, western medicine, African music & the clash between the modern world and ancient traditional wisdom.”

I loved this book so much. I could not put it down. It is such a compelling story of one person’s struggle with chronic illness but touches on so much more. This story encourages us to look into our shadows to find the source. It will be an inspiration for anyone on a healing journey. It gave me so much to reflect on in regards to my own struggles and my journey with healing. Dave’s writing is so humorous and joyful, he had me laughing out loud many times and also made me weep. It touches all the feels. You will be grateful you read this book.

This book grabs you from the first page! One man’s journey through life, from an adventurous soul. He shows us how different cultures live - their strong belief systems, that sustain the human soul in good times and bad. Dave bares his soul as he travels through pain in his own difficult times.
A must read!!!

This is not just a scholarly, enchanting, and suspenseful adventure but a spiritual journey inward. The character’s work to document and preserve a vanishing culture takes an unexpected turn. He is personally drawn deeper into the secrets of human origins than few if any in the Western world have been privy to. This nonfictional tale will creep into your dreams and change the way you think.

I found this story fascinating and I wanted to keep reading more. Dave Kobrenski has woven the ancient past of different cultures with the reality of modern life in the U.S., creating a rich tapestry of images upon which his story plays out. Kobrenski juxtaposes traditional healing practices with modern medicine peppered with well researched history and information, and questions everything in the context of his personal struggle to find love and health. The subsequent story that is told from all of these ingredients is compelling and deeply moving.

Dave, your delivery of words held me, always wondering if you were going to surface.

Twenty years to learn the lessons, that haunted you, to come to the realization, that you were your own demon. But also realizing that it took beyond amazing stamina to push through ankylosing spondylitis in a masterful way with your drumming, your flute, and your art work, as your healers, along with the ancestors, elders and current healers.

Your humor shone through with a freshness, like bubbles of water, and was so very entertaining. I bubbled with your light spirit, when it opened and revealed itself through your heavy veil of fear.

Your in-depth research verified your brilliant mind, and your youthful written delivery, is what kept me reading.

I was a traveler alongside you, throughout your book, as I experienced a similar journey, through Africa, and South America.

Your book is a must read.

I could not put this book down. With the eye of an ethnographer, Dave Kobrenski details an African landscape and her people, sketching their portraits and recording their music as he travels. But this is not an ordinary memoire. This book is a profound and searching adventure, where Kobrenski takes on the archetypal quest of the hero’s journey as he enters a mysterious cultural terrain that is not his own. There he struggles to make meaning out of inner and outer realities that become blurred but gradually become a road map to deeper understanding. But ultimately this is a love story. Full of guarded and broken hearts, the ordeals and sacrifices courageously resurrect into the deepest power of love in self solidarity, friendship, and sonship.

How seldom is one invited to share in the thoughts and feelings of another human, one who simply (but courageously) seeks a life free of pain? The record of this journey, this book, is a gift to the many of us who take their everyday health for granted. Dave Kobrenski adventures his way back and forth from the northeast US to Guinea, Africa, leaving a cultural record for us that feels equal parts: Mickey Hart, Wade Davis, and Indiana Jones!

Traveling through Western Africa with Dave has brought me a deeper cultural understanding and a refreshing spiritual awareness that occurs through his many experiences and reinforces my own beliefs. This exceptional and talented man has given me a new perspective on dealing with personal demons. Healing is possible! One could only hope to have Dave’s wisdom and courage to dig deep into oneself with such strength and determination.
I am grateful that Dave shared his journey with us, he’s so much more than an adventurous traveler, he challenges us to leave this world a better place.

A real life adventure story at it’s best! I could not put this one down! Vivid descriptions carried me along for the journey. I feel I’ve been to Africa and back with Dave and appreciate the lessons on culture, history, world issues, health and healing he weaves with the magic of his words. A must read!

I received an advance review copy, and I read it through in one night, mostly in tears. This is a rich tale that weaves together Western medicine, traditional healing, shamanism, ancient cultures and modern science, along with a good dose of plain American grit. It doesn’t hurt that Dave’s a skilled writer, and I can’t imagine what the process of writing it must have been like for him, but he held me through every page.

The story, at once, offers the realization and serves as a reminder that the fulcrum of humanity is courage. An adventure in search of wisdom sans expiration gives way to the great depth of the need to heal. Truly inspiring!

From the very first page, Finding the Source by Dave Kobrenski pulls the reader into a unique and beautifully written narrative about healing the body and soul. Dave’s lyrical prose weaves an unexpected story of how Dave ended up living in Africa, falling in love with the people he met there, and uncovering the source of the pain that ruled his reality. The impact of living with unrelenting pain is not an easily-shared concept, but Dave manages to powerfully convey just that. I felt as if I was following Dave as he undertook these physical, emotional and spiritual journeys - he shines a light on the highs and lows of his travels and you can see his growth as his story progresses. This is a beautiful book that needs to be shared widely!

Finding the Source is a powerful healing adventure that takes many well-positioned opportunities to shed light on western medicine’s short-sided perspectives on health and wellness. Through the author’s deep reverence for Africa and her traditions we, the reader, begin to understand new wisdom as it relates to rest, healing and the mind, body and spirit connection. I loved this book and was all in to join him on this wild, risky and beautiful journey to find the source of his pain and the source of his healing. The book is a beautiful reminder that often the answers we seek have been inside of us the whole time.

Through this exciting adventure, we are given a beautiful glimpse into what’s important in life. This story provides a wake-up call from the illusion of what we tend to describe as, “advanced societies,” and reminds us how to be humble, grateful, and ultimately, happy. Finding the Source is a must-read for anyone interested in the teachings of traditional cultures or for anyone who feels they are stuck in a rut. Dave’s journey is full of excitement, struggle, and happiness that will bring hope to anyone who reads it.

Having known Dave since he was in college, I got to read the book early. That also means I knew of the trials he of which he writes , the travels, the illness, the people, the personal cost to this splendid tale. His talents fine tune. The best of the story, which I loved, is how it all comes together, and we, the readers benefit, and learn.